Electrical fitting and method of making the same



May 10, 1932. a. a. BENANDER ELECTRICAL FITTING AND METHOD OF IAKING THESAME Filed lay 23. 1929 1 fieorqe D. Benander i; ATTORNEY Patented May10, 1232 UN'TED S E PATENT OFFICE oneness. IBENANDER, or ranasmucome-Hour, aasreiroa, a! infirm nearer nEN'rs, 'ro rnsxoiwowarr nacramcoaroaarron, or aamenroar, common- I CUT, A. CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUTEmcrmcn. rrrrme m rm'rnon orfnxme m am Application fled Kay 28, 1989.Serial No. 8653354.

The present invention relates to electrical fittings and is moreparticularly directed toward electrical fittings such as-plural lampsockets and current taps adapted to. be threaded into an electricaloutlet and having one or more outlets for lamp sockets.

The present invention more particularly relates to electrical fittingssuch as plural lamp sockets and current. taps having insulating casingsconsisting of two casing halves of moldable material molded together andadapted to support the conducting parts.

The present invention contemplates an arrangement of parts whereby aconductor strip connected to one of the output terminals such as a lampsocket terminal, carried inside a chamberwithin the casing halves ispassed outwardly through registering notches in the casing halves to bebent against the side faces of the casing and be in. a position to beengageable with a male screw shell forming one of the current supplyterminals.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a screw shellterminal and conductor strip suitable for'the above purpose all made outof a single piece of sheet metal. In some cases this strip may berovided by suitably slitting the base of the b ank for the shell contactto form a strip connected thereto at one end, bending it back andforming it to shape to be received in the notches. In other cases,however, the strip so formed is of insufiicient length and the presentinvention contemplates the obtaining of a strip of longer effectivelength by slitting out a tongue from the body of a strip, this tonguebeing adapted to be passed through the notches in the casing halves.

- A further object of the invention is to provide an improved device toanchor the shell contacts in the casing halves and prevent rotation ofthe shell contacts.

A further object of the invention is to provide a plural lamp socketwherein a single bent strip ofv sheet metal provides a center contactfor the input end of the plural lamp socket as well as the centercontacts for the two outlets, this single conductor strip being securedin place in suitably formed notches and abutments in the insulatingcasing halves.

The accompanying drawings show, for purposes, of illustrating thepresent, invention, several of the many embodiments in which it may takeform, it being understood that the drawings are illustrative of theinvention rather than limiting the 'same.

In thesedrawingsf Figure 1 is an elevational view of one of the casinghalves of a plural lamp socket, showmg one of the screw shell contactsand the istrip forming the center contacts in posiion; v

Figure 2 is an elevational view of a plural lamp socket of Figure 1,parts being broken away to show interior construction;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fi re 2;

Figures 4 an b are top plan and sectional views, respectively, of ablank for a screw shell contact partly formed;

Figure 6 is a side elevational view of a screw shell contact taken atright angles to the direction shown in Figures 1 and 5; Figure 7 is anelevational view with parts 111 section of a modified form of plurallamp socket of the type provided with the side outlets for attachmentplugs;

Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing a current tap; and

Figure 9 is a perspective view showing one of the terminal assembliesfor the current tap of Figure 8. 7 v

The form' of plural lamp socket shown in Figures 1 to 6, inclusive, ismade up of a pair of identical casing halves 10 and 11, of moldedinsulating material, a pain/bf screw shell socket contact units 12 and13, a. center contact forming strip 14, male screw shell 15, andsecuring means indicated at 16.

The casing halves are provided with upwardly extending tip formingportions 20 and with two downwardly diverging socket shell receivingopenings or chambers 21 and 22. The tip portion of each of the casinhalvesis provided with a centrall dispos notch 23 while the side wallsof t e tips are provided with laterally extending notches 24 and 25. Asshown in the drawings, the

' below the notches 24 and 25, with partitions identical and the facesof the various 'ada ted to lead current to the shells.

orfwebs 26, 26. These partitions or webs are notched. centrally asindicated at 27and strip 46-l1es 1n the registe arespaced from the sidewalls of the halves as indicated at 28. The socket sh receiving chambersare closed at their upper ends b end walls indicated at 29, these endwalls 'ng notched asindicated at 80 and 31. -Near the outer end of thechambers 22, the casing halves are provided with peripheral grooves '82.These grooves are not continuous, there be' ing to the preferred formofconstruction as;

a above referred to is in a single central p ne. The center contactforming strip 14 is made out of a single piece of sheet metal doubled'onitself to the shape indicated in Figure 1. This contact forming striphas an arcuate central portion 35 adapted to beenried beyond the tipdownwardl' and inwardly convergent portions 35a a a ted to fit theconvergent walls .36 of the note es '23 in the casing halves. The sidesof the terminal member 14-are shouldered as. indicated at 37 andthenconver together to pass through'the notch 27 in t e partitions or webs26. The member then diver s and passes through the notches 31 asindicated at 38. The lower ends or feet 39 v of this conductor striparecarried inside the chambers 21 and 22 and are spaced slightly member14' is made out of resilient sheet metal and is readily insertible intoplace in the notches. 1

The screw shell contact units 12 and 13 are identical and are shown indetail in Figures 1,34, 5 and,.6. These contact units have, as

ove intimated, an integral conductor s trrip he com ined screw shellcontact and conductor strip are madeas follows: A screw shell -bl'ank isformed in the usual manner with threaded-side walls 40 and with a bottomportion 41. The material in thisbottom portion is utilized to form thestrip and according to the preferred form of construction, the bottomportion of the blank is cut to form a trans-.

' verse stri as indicated at 44, this strip being slitte as shown at 42,to form a tongue The tongue is bent back into the plane the bottom.Prior to inserting the contact unit in the casing, the tongue 43 is bentas indicated in Figure 5 and the strip 44 is an 4 interruptim indi-- 1'cated at 83. The two casing halves accord ofthe fitting and with s a...through the registering notches parts iny. flared as indicated at 47 andthis outwardly flared portion is notched as indicated at 48. This notchmay be cut-by the dies at the same time as the other operations areperformed. When the shell is in place the flange 47 is received in thegrooves 32 and a notch .48 aocomodates the ungrooved portion 33- of theinsulating casing.

- From Figure 1 it will be apparent that thescrew shell conductor stripumt ma be easily inserted into the casing half and a ton es 43 pass edout through the notches 24 an 25 so as to provideextemal terminals forthe output contacts. .After the screw shell contacts and center contactstrip have'been insorted in one of the casi halves, the other casin halfis a plied to 1t, the parts fitting toget er, and t e casinghalves'secured together bythebolt indicated at-16. V

The male screw shell 15 for the device is then slip v on as indicated.This screw shell is o ordinary construction and passes down about the tiof the fitting sliding over the ton es '43. o facilitate soldering thescrew s ell of the-tongues, the 'screw shell is provided with smallholes indicated at 51 and a drop of'solder is applied, as shown in F1ure 2. In order that the screw shell-may attached more securely, thecasing halves are provided with recesses indicated at 52 and thematerial of the screw shell is pressed into 3 these recesses.

The four way plural lamp socket indicated in Figure 7 has a wider anglebetween the lamp sockets, and hence it is possible for the socketcontact indicated at to be closer to I the male screw shell 61 than inthe type of construction shown in Figuresl and 2. The blank from whichthe screw shell 60 is formed ma provide sufficient material to allow forma 'ng an integral conductor strip 63 of sufficient length to assthrough notches indicated at 64. It tlien lies alongside the side wallof the casing where it may be secured to the outer screw shell 65 in themanner above described. In each of these forms of construction, it willbe noted thatthe conductor strip (44 or 63) passes upwardly between thecasing halves until it reaches the registering notches which are insidethe male screw shell, thereby making it certain that when in use no con-(lllllcltling parts are exposed beyond the screw s e I Figure 8 shows acurrent tap having the usual plug contacts 71 and 72 whereby it may bethreaded into a lamp socket. This current tap also has-a socket outlet,the screw shell Ill of which is indicated at 73, and a center contact74. It is provided with pairs of blade receiving contacts indicated at75 and 76. These conducting parts, except for the external screw shell71 are carried inside of casing halves indicated at 77, these beingprovided with notches, recesses and openings to accommodate the variousparts.

The screw shell 73 is anchored in place in the socket chamber in thesame manner as the screw shells 12- and 13. Corresponding parts areindicated by the same reference characters. In this current tap, theconnection between the screw shell 71 and the socket shell 73 is in theform of a conductor strip 79 riveted to an extension 80 formed integralwith the socket shell. These parts are also riveted to a cross conductorstrip 81 which provides the blade receiving contacts 75. The upper endof the conducting strip is bent as indicated at 82 to pass throughsuitable notches in the casing halves and is preferably secured to theouter screw shell 71 in the manner above described. The conductorassembly for the other side of the circuit includes a strip indicated at83 whose upper end is formed to fit notches in the tip of the fitting.The lower end of the strip 83 forms the center contact 74, and the stripis riveted to a cross strip forming the blade ieceiving contact 76,similar to that shown in It is obvious that the invention may beembodied in many forms and constructions, and I wish it to be understoodthat the particular forms shown are but a few of the many forms. Variousmodifications and changes being possible, I do not limit myself in anway with respect thereto.

1. A combined screw shell contact and terminal strip for lamp socketscomprisin a single piece of sheet metal having a threaded screw shellportion, a rearwardly extending strip, and a tongue out from the strip.

2. Acombined screw shell contact and terminal strip for lamp socketscomprising a single piece of sheet metal havin a threa ed screw shellportion outwardly ared at one end and havlng a rearwardly extendingstrip at the other end provided with a tongue out from the strip.

3. The method of making a lamp socket shell with an integral conductorstrip havin longer eflective length than the diameter 0 the shell, whichconsists in severin a strip from the base of the shell blank, an cuttinga tongue from said strip near the free end thereof. a r

4. The method of making a combined screw shell contact and terminalstrip for lamp sockets, which consists in forming a cupshaped threadedstamping of sheet metal, cuttmg away material from the base of thestamping to have a strip connected at one end to the threaded shell andslitting said strip nearthe free end of the strip to form a tongue. 1

5. The method of making a combined screw shell contact and terminalstrip for lamp sockets, which consists in forming a single piece ofsheet metal into a screw shell with a terminal strip connected to theshell and extending away from the shell body, and slitting said stripnear the free end of the strip to form aton ue.

6. The methodo makinga combined screw shell contactv and terminal stripfor lamp sockets, which consists in forming a cupshaped threadedstamping of sheet metal, cuttin a strip from the bottom of said cupshapestamping of sheet metal, and slitting the free end of the strip to forma tongue.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York,this 10th day of May, 1929.

GEORGE B. BENANDER.

